Wednesday, December 27, 2017

At 8:10 AM MST this morning, I made a thermal observation of the sky and ground at NearSys Station. Currently, the Treasure Valley, especially the lower or western valley is under an inversion. Our sky is completely overcast and we have mild fog.

Interesting how the featureless sky above is not featureless in thermal infrared. The coldest ground temperature is 5 degrees F. The sky is 8 degrees, except in patches that are 3 degrees colder. I believe these are cloud regions that are hanging lower that our overcast.

Monday, December 25, 2017

With snowfall in the ground, the coldest ground temperature was 6 degrees F. The overhead stratocumulus had a temperature of 1 degree F. Assuming a dry adiabatic lapse rate of 5.4 degrees per thousand feet, the cloud base has an altitude of 900 feet.

Furthermore, the clouds drifted 10 degrees towards the east in 31 seconds. The estimate of 10 degrees was made by looking at the width of my fist from my extended arm. Using the definition of the tangent, I calculated that the clouds drifted 0.176 of their 900 foot altitude in 31 seconds.

Assuming an altitude of 900 feet, the wind speed is 3.5 miles per hour towards the east at that altitude.

Saturday, December 23, 2017

NearSys Station briefly experienced mostly clear skies. Not bad after one inch of snowfall. Three tiny sunspots were visible. However, their small size and the partial cloudiness covering the sun made impossible to photograph them with a call phone camera.

The three sunspots are located close to each other in the lower left quadrant.

Friday, December 22, 2017

According to readings from the Seek Reveal, the ground temperature was 13 degrees F. Below are two images of the sky recorded at 4:30 PM MST and 5:15 PM MST. Snowfall began shortly before the second image was recorded.

At 4:30 PM, the stratus clouds over NearSys Station were 9 degrees colder than the ground. Assuming a dry adiobatic lapse rate of 5.4 degrees per thousand feet, the clouds were 1,600 feet above NearSys Station.

Forty-five minutes later, the clouds were 5 degrees warmer. Therefore, the cloud height deceased to 700 feet above NearSys Station. That's a decrease of 900 feet in 45 minutes or 20 feet per minute. Is it normal for clouds to decrease their height before precipitation begins? More testing is called for.

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

It's overcast at NearSys Station and the prediction is for rain late tonight and snow in the mountains (which have a dusting right now). According to the Seek Reveal, the ground temperature is 13 *F And the cloud temperature is 2 *F.

Assuming a dry adiabatic lapse rate of 5.4 degrees per thousand feet, the cloud base is at an altitude of 2,000 feet.

The coldest ground temperature was 13 *F and the overcast sky had a temperature of 8 *F. With a difference of 5 degrees and a dry adiabatic lapse rate of 5.4 degrees per thousand feet, the cloud base had an altitude of 900 feet.

Sunday, December 3, 2017

Observations at 5:30 PM MST indicated the ground had a temperature of 18 *F and the clouds had a temperature of 0 *F. Assuming a dry adiabatic lapse rate of 5.4 *F per 1,000 feet predicts the broken stratus has a base height of 3,300 feet.

I think it's pretty obvious this weather station is getting old. I plan to either make a new one or purchase a new one. A suitable replacement weather station must have a wireless remote with a range of 400 feet, at a minimum.

Friday, December 1, 2017

The temperature chart shows we're definitely in a cooling trend since this summer. However, NearSys Station did experience some unexpected warming in November as we experienced a halt in the cooling trend during the middle of the month.

There was gap in recording data during the Thanksgiving Holiday.

November was not a dry month, but NearSys Station only experienced four rain storms.

No snow yet. Very few rain days, but two of them produced ab half inch of rain.